Tag: prehistoric rock art

Kendall Stone, Whitby, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NZ 94 06?

Also Known as:

  1. Kendall Stone

Archaeology & History

In James Simpson’s precursory essay (1866) to his monumental Archaic Sculpturings (1867), he details the former existence of a decent piece of prehistoric rock art, lost to us until very recently by the intrusive diggings of one Thomas Kendall of Pickering.  Simpson wrote:

“A large mass of sandstone in the moor above Robin Hood’s Bay, near Whitby, had some sculpturings upon it, part of which were split off by Mr Kendall of Pickering, in whose garden I have seen the slab of carvings which he thus procured.  Mr Kendall’s slab is about five feet long and two and a-half broad. Upon its surface are three or four isolated cups about an inch and a-half in breadth, and five or six others surrounded by ring-cuttings… Two or three of the ring-cuttings consist of single circles.  One consists of a triple circle and straight radial groove. The ends of the circles, as they reach the traversing groove, turn round and unite together, as in the horse-shoe pattern… The two remaining circles, which are respectively five inches and eight inches in breadth, and consist of cups surrounded by two and by three circles, are conjoined together by a long gutter.  The upper circle shows a single-and the lower a double horse-shoe pattern. In the uppermost or double circle the rounded ends of the rings are united and bestridden by a shallow right-angled line; and the ends of the lowest or triple circle are in part also conjoined by the gutter which runs from the double circle above, and by a cross straight line which runs off from it.  The circles are more imperfectly finished than usual, and at some parts present almost an appearance of being punched out rather than cut out.”

Cup-and-Ring Stone, once near Robin Hood's Bay
Cup-and-Ring Stone, once near Robin Hood’s Bay

In recent years, thanks to the cup-and-ring huntings of Chris Evans and  Graeme Chappell, the carving has re-emerged from its lost position and, it would seem, is located in someone’s garden in Pickering.  The carving is catalogued as Stone REM 1/P1 in Brown & Chappell’s (2005: 257) work on North Yorkshire rock art.  Hopefully, in the months to come, we’ll have a decent photograph and description of its present condition.  Fingers crossed!

References:

  1. Brown, P.M. & Chappell, Graeme, Prehistoric Rock Art in the North York Moors, Tempus: Stroud 2005.
  2. Simpson, J.Y., ‘On Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings’, in PSAS volume 6, 1866.
  3. Simpson, James Y., Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc., upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and Other Countries, Edmonston and Douglas: Oxford 1867.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Eastwoods Cross Base, Summerbridge, North Yorkshire

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Cross & Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 18506 62013

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.637 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Drawing of CR 637 (after Boughey & Vickerman)
Drawing of CR 637 (after Boughey & Vickerman)

The same directions as for the Eastwoods Farm Cup: from Summerbridge, go west on the B6541 towards Dacre Banks, where there’s the signpost for the Nidderdale Way footpath.  Follow this past the disused quarry and into the meadows.  When you hit the Monk Ing road, bear right (north) and keep going till you’re 100 yards from Eastwoods Farm.  Go right, down into the field for about 30 yards or so.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

Described in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey as a “low, medium-sized, quadrant-shaped rock standing up from surroundings, with hollowed out central area.”  This hollowed-out central area is, in all likelihood, the remains of a previously unrecognized old cross-base, although investigating archaeologists have somehow missed this.  The stone’s proximity to the old Monk’s Way — a medieval trade route used by the local monastic Order — would give added weight to this assertion.  A perusal of field-name records here may prove fruitful.

Eastwoods Farm Cross-base & Cup-Marks (courtesy Richard Stroud)
Eastwoods Farm Cross-base & Cup-Marks (© Richard Stroud)

Our authors counted “eight possible small, badly worn cups, (with) three grooves running from central basin, all possibly natural.” The grooves may well be natural, but I’d say that one or two of the cups appear to be genuine.  The large hollow in the middle of the stone may originally have been a cup-marking (or maybe even a cup-and-ring — but we’ll never know), before it became used as a site to erect a primitive cross.

Several other cup-and-ring carvings can be found around here — the Eastwoods Farm Cup is in the same field nearby— with the great likelihood of there being others hidden amidst trees or grasses, waiting to be re-awakened!  The hugely impressive Morphing Stone and a prehistoric lightning-carving can be found in the next field, full of rocks, on the other side of the stream.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Eastwoods Farm Cup, Heyshaw, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1852 6201

Also Known as:

  1. IAG637a (Boughey)

Single cup-marked stone in the field below Eastwoods Farm

Getting Here

From the large village of Summerbridge, go west along the B6541 towards Dacre Banks, where you’ll see the signpost for the Nidderdale Way footpath.  Follow this past the disused quarry and onto the meadows.  When you hit the Monk Ing road, bear right (north) and keep going till you’re 100 yards from Eastwoods Farm.  Go right, down into the fields for 50 yards or so.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

A previously unlisted single cup-marked stone which is likely to become overgrown by the grasses pretty soon.  Several other carvings are in close attendance in this field.  It’s not far from the cup-marked Eastwoods Cross Base (aka CR 637) in the same field, but a little further down.  In all probability there are other carvings yet to be found in this area.  The rock art student Keith Boughey (2007) mentioned it briefly in an article on the other carvings nearby, saying simply:

“A small area of rock (very possibly bedrock) measuring 40cm x 14cm at its greatest extent pokes up through the turf, showing one worn but clear cup-mark on its western edge (Fig 3). On its own, this marking would not be significant were it not for the fact that four other carved rocks are already recorded from this particular locality.”

The hugely impressive Morphing Stone and a prehistoric lightning-carving can be found in the next field, full of rocks, on the other side of the stream.

(NB: In a more recent visit to the site (August 2011), the carving had all but disappeared beneath ever-growing Earth.)

References:

  1. Boughey, K., “Prehistoric Rock Art: Four New Discoveries in Nidderdale,” in Prehistoric Research Section Bulletin, no.44, Yorkshire Archaeological Society 2007.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Green Crag Top Cairns, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cairns:  OS Grid Reference – SE 131 458

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Larger of the Green Crag Top cairns – with blizzard in background!

Getting Here

Follow directions for getting to the Haystack Rock.  Once here, walk dead straight south onto the moor and go up the slope you see a few hundred yards ahead of you.  Once you’re at the top of the slope, a few yards onto the ridge itself, look around!  If there’s deep heather growth when you arrive, you’ve no chance!

Archaeology & History

To my limited knowledge, it appears there’s no previous references to the cairns here.  We found at least two of them, with a probable third not far away; but we were lucky inasmuch that the heather had all been burnt away, allowing a clearer inspection of the sites.  The larger of the two is nearly four yards across and nearly a yard high.  It’s somewhat larger than the majority of what are thought to be single-person cairns along Green Crag Slack ridge, down the slope.

Much denuded cairn
Much denuded cairn

A smaller cairn less than 100 yards west on the same ridge (near the large boulder with a couple of cup-markings on top) looks as if it was robbed of stone sometime in the past.  About six-feet across, this one is more typical of the cairns found on the Ridge below.

There are what seems to be other remains along this ridge, including a very distinct thin, six-foot-long stone, which looks very much as if it could have stood upright in the not-too-distant past.  We could do with more heather-burning on this part of the moor to help us out!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Three Cups Stone, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 12998 46314

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.138 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.298 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Dead easy!  Follow the directions to the unmissable Haystack Rock, then look at the small upright stone about 40 yards west, just off the footpath.

The Three Cup Stone

Archaeology & History

This is another one of the many carvings I first saw when I was a small lad, about 12 years old, in one of my countless walkabouts over these moors.  It’s thought by some to be a small cup-marked standing stone (it’s possible I s’ppose, but improbable); whether that’s the case or not, it certainly has three distinct cup-markings on its east-facing vertical face.  There are also what appears to be lines cutting through the cups and running out to near the edge of the stone which may or may not be natural.  A small, cute little thing!  Boughey and Vickerman (2003) make a note that this carving may be recent — but if so, it was done some considerable time before 1975, when I first clapped eyes on it!

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Urn Stone, Green Crag, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 12832 46163

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.130 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.287 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Drawing of the Urn Stone (after Hedges 1986)
Drawing of the Urn Stone (after Hedges 1986)

Follow the directions for getting to the Haystack Rock, then bear right (west) along the footpath, past the little Three Cups Stone, until the path bends and goes up onto the moor.  A hundred yards or so, walk left into the heather (you’re straddling the remains of considerable prehistoric walling and enclosure remains by now) and look around.  You’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

I was only about 12-years old when I first saw this and the nearby prehistoric carvings — but when I came to look for any references to it as a boy, there were none I could find at the time.  Then, ten years later when John Hedges (1986) brought out his fine work on the cup-and-ring art of Ilkley Moor, its presence was shown in pen-and-ink at last.  Found amidst the remains of an extensive settlement or series of walled enclosures, the carving’s name comes from the curious urn-like element that Hedges showed faintly.   There is also an additional ring around one of the cups above the ‘urn’.

Excavations that were done on the prehistoric ‘enclosure’ close to this petroglyph in the 1990s, uncovered the remains of a decent amount of ‘grooved ware’ pottery and worked flint (Edwards & Bradley 1999), dated between 2900 and 2600 BC.  As such pottery has been found elsewhere in Britain within and/or near earthworks and other prehistoric remains (obviously!), its incidence here isn’t really too much of a surprise.  However, Edwards & Bradley (1999) speculate — albeit vaguely — that there may be a link between the cup-and-rings here and the pottery, saying, “if so, the rock carvings (here) might be indicating a place of special significance.”

This may be so: considering the prevalence of rock-art along the geological ridge and its close association with the large number of burial cairns.  If it can be ascertained that the charred remains of humans were kept inside the pottery or vases, the relationship between death and the carvings (well established on this part of Ilkley Moor) would be reinforced.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
  2. Edwards, Gavin & Bradley, Richard, ‘Rock Carvings and Neolithic Artefacts on Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire,’ in Grooved Ware in Britain and Ireland (edited by Cleal, R. & MacSween, A.), Oxbow: Oxford 1999.
  3. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Young Idol Stone, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13264 45943

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.158 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.323 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

The Young Idol Stone (bottom) & parental Idol Stone above
The Young Idol Stone (bottom) & parental Idol Stone above

Take the directions to reach the Haystack Rock, then head onto the moor following the south-east footpath for a few hundred yards, towards where the moor slopes uphill.  20-30 yards before the uphill slope, a yard to the right of the path, a couple of yards below the well-known Idol Stone carving – you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Described simply as a “small, rounded, smooth grit rock,” this long-tooth-shaped stone has just two cup-markings on its upper face: one on the more southern tip, and the second smaller cup several inches below it – as shown on the photo.  The adjacent carving seen at the top of the photo is the parent guardian, Idol Stone!  If you visit this, or any adjacent carvings here, please remember that all along this moorland plain are numerous unexcavated prehistoric tombs. You’re effectively stood at the edge of, or within, a huge prehistoric cemetery.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Green Crag Top Stone, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1304 4582

Getting Here

Green Crag Top stone - from above
Green Crag Top stone – from above

Head for the binary-like Idol Stone carving and keep walking on the footpath, up the hill.  Once on top of the ridge, walk along it to your right (west) for about 300 yards, then walk south (left) into the flat heathland plain.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

I’m probably not reading it right – but it seems this large stone with several distinct cup-marks on its vertical south-face, isn’t in the surveys of either Hedges (1986) or Boughey & Vickerman (2003).  If someone can correct me on this one – please do!

Green Crag Top Stone, looking north
Green Crag Top Stone, looking north

This is quite a large boulder, as the photos here show.  At least two average-sized cup-markings have been etched onto the south face, and two larger ones accompany them on the same edge.  There’s another larger cup-mark on the northeast side of the stone, and a possible companion, which may or may not be artificial.  Then on top of the stone we have several large cups and a ‘bowl’ — though some of these upper markings may be natural, or just well-eroded cup-marks.  It’s hard to tell for sure!

Now I’m gonna have another look in the Hedges, Boughey & Vickerman surveys.  They surely can’t have missed this!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dymond Stone, Burley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 12629 45206

Also known as:

  1. Carving no.118
  2. Carving no. 275

Getting Here

Dymond Stone, Ilkley Moor

It’s not too far from the main footpath from Ilkley to the Twelve Apostles stone circle.  As its discoverer C.W. Dymond (1880) said, “It lies alone, on and near the foot of a steep slope, about a furlong, or less than five minutes’ walk, north from the ruins of a small stone-circle (Twelve Apostles) which crowns the crest of the pass leading south-south-east from Ilkley to Eldwick, and just one mile and three-quarters from the former place.  If approached therefrom, it will be easily found about two hundred yards to the east of the point where the road surmounts the steep, to enter upon the upper plain.”  Otherwise, walk through the Twelve Apostles from the main footpath and out the other side, following the land where it slopes down and, near the bottom, you’ll see this large stone sitting quietly on its own…

1880 image of Dymond's carving
Dymond’s 1880 sketch

Archaeology & History

Not too sure about the veracity of this one to be honest.  It was first described by archaeologist C.W. Dymond (1880) as “a stone marked with a striking group of cups” – but these are small and untypical of the usual markings.  “The stone is 9 ft. 6 ins. in length, 6 ft. 3 ins. in breadth, and about 2 ft. in thickness; its upper surface dipping a little, with the ground, toward the north. Upon it may be seen a group of small cups, for the most part about half an inch in diameter,” he said.

Dymond thought that the design on the rock may have represented parts of the night sky, saying, “here we may have a rude attempt to portray the starry heavens spanned by the galaxy ; and that the outlying groups may have been intended to represent two of the constellations perhaps Orion, and another not so easily identified.”  But I think we can take this with a pinch of salt.

Included in Hedge’s (1986) survey without comment, Boughey and Vickerman (2003) correctly thought that the “small peck marks which are not typical cup-marks” might be “doubtful”.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorks Archaeology Service 2003.
  2. Dymond, C.W., ‘Cup Marks on Burley Moor,’ in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 36, 1880.
  3. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks of Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Doubler Stones, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stones:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0723 4652

Also Known as:

  1. Carving Nos. 41 & 42 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  2. Carving Nos. 6 & 7 (Hedges survey)
  3. Doublestones
  4. The Fire Stones

Getting Here

The great Doubler Stones (photo, James Elkington)

Various ways to get here, but the 2 most common are: (1) from Brunthwaite village, above Silsden, following the road uphill for a mile, then turning right (west) onto the moorland dirt-track to Doubler Stones Farm.  Just before here there’s a footpath uphill (north) for 200 yards to the stones.  (2) follow the Millenium Way footpath south up Addingham Moorside, onto Addingham High Moor.  Keep going on the same path another 500 yards and they’ll appear ahead of you.

Archaeology & History

First described as the ‘Doublestones’ in the local Addingham parish records of 1786, these great mushroom-shaped rocks were later brought to the attention of archaeologists by J. Romilly Allen in 1879 and they greatly intrigued numerous Victorian antiquarians, who puzzled as much about their exotic forms as the cup-marks on their tops!  Allen wrote of them:

Cowling’s old drawing
Hedges (1986) sketch of the design

“These rocks are by far the most remarkable freaks of Nature to be seen in the district. They occupy a prominent position, perched on the extremity of a rocky knoll which juts out into the valley; and as seen from below, with their weird forms standing out clear and sharp against the background of blue sky, they present so extraordinary an appearance that they would at once attract the attention of even the most unobservant.  In general outline they resemble gigantic toadstools; and I presume that they are called Doubler Stones from the fact of their shapes being almost identical.  They may be appropriately described as Nature’s Twins.  The upper surface of the cap of one of these stones has three large basin-shaped cavities in it.  Two of these lie along the central axis of the stone, and measure respectively 1ft 3in by 2ft 9in deep, and 1ft 9in by 1ft 3in by 9in deep.  They are united by a deep groove, a continuation of which runs out over the edge of the stone at each end.  There is another basin lying to the west side of the two central ones, with one of which it is connected by grooves.  It measures 2ft by 1ft 9in and is 9in deep.  There is no direct evidence that these basins are artificial; but it is quite possible that they may have been so originally, and have been enlarged by natural agencies.  But in addition to the basins, are twenty-six cup-markings of distinctly artificial origin.  They vary in diameter from 2 to 4 in.  One group of cups appears to be arranged in parallel rows.”

Doubler Stones, c.1890

Although the writer thought there were no artificial cup-markings on the other Doubler Stone (the one on the left in the photo), John Hedges (1986) and Boughey & Vickerman (2003) cite there to be at least two cup-markings on this rock.  Other writers have given different numbers for the respective cup-marks thought to be on these rocks down the years.

If you’re into prehistoric rock-art, check this place out.  If you’re a geologist and aint been here, you’ll be even more impressed!

Folklore

Approaching the Doublers (photo – James Elkington)

In Nicholas Size’s Haunted Moor (1934) he described the Doubler Stones as being the abode of ghosts and a place of sacrificial rites in ancient days. While in Guy Ragland Phillips’ Brigantia, we find that the word ‘doubler’ itself “is a large shallow dish, bowl or plate” – which we find on top of the greater one of these two well-worn-weirdoes.  As well as being haunted, there is some other little-known, though not unexpected folklore here, which told these old stones to be the meeting place of witches in previous centuries.

In addition to this, we are told that the witches of Fewston valley to the west used to meet up with the more famous Pendle witches at these stones.  One historian proclaimed that this notion was spurious, as it would be too far for the Pendle witches to walk – which says more about the historian in question than the people of previous centuries.  The distance from Pendle to the Doublers can be traversed in a day and is an ideal meeting spot, away from the prying eyes of a wrathful Church, that sought war against the animistic practices of our ancestors.

References:

  1. Allen, J. Romilly, ‘The Prehistoric Rock Sculptures of Ilkley,’ in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, volume 35, 1879.
  2. Allen, J. Romilly, ‘Notice of Sculptured Rocks near Ilkley,’ ibid, volume 38, 1882.
  3. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Chieveley 2001.
  4. Boughey & Vickerman, Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
  5. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  6. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombalds Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
  7. Jennings, Hargrave, Archaic Rock Inscriptions, A. Reader: London 1891.
  8. Phillips, Guy Ragland, Brigantia: A Mysteriography, RKP: London 1976.
  9. Size, Nicholas, The Haunted Moor, William Walker: Otley 1934.

Acknowledgements:  Massive thanks to landscape photographer, James Elkington, for use of his images in this site profile.  Thanks mate! 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian